According to information released by the DoD’s Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB in CA, the object was likely the Cosmos 1315 payload launched in 1981. Gene Stansbery, Program Manager for NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office confirmed the report with Maui Now this morning.

More than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk,” are tracked as they orbit the Earth. They all travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft.

The rising population of space debris increases the potential danger to all space vehicles, but especially to the International Space Station, space shuttles and other spacecraft with humans aboard.

But, not all sources of “lights” in space are as well understood. For instance:

Video by Jake Ellison

Bright UFO paces International Space Station

On Aug. 3, ”lights” or reflections of sunlight off an unidentified flying object appeared briefly near the International Space Station and caused a stir in media around the globe. The brief appearance of the bright and colorful unidentified object was first spotted by UFO enthusiasts and declared evidence of alien life watching Earth’s activities. The Seattlepi.com investigated and found more, much clearer video footage from Aug. 23 of a similar bright object keeping pace with the ISS for minutes at a time. Space junk? Aliens? NASA hasn’t commented. So, you decide. (Note: All video footage is taken directly — unaltered but zoomed in on and sped up — from raw recordings on the Ustream account of NASA TV’s live feed from the International Space Station.)

And …

Video by Jake Ellison

‘UFO’ bombs NASA video of ISS repair

Oct. 7th started out as just another day in space with astronauts fixing things on the rickety old International Space Station … until …

Of course some of those fireballs in the sky are not as harmless as small space junk!